1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a universal user roaming method, system and program product. Specifically, the present invention provides improved application roaming between desktop and handheld environments.
2. Related Art
In recent years, vast improvements have been made to handheld devices such as personal digital assistants, cellular telephones, etc. These devices have provided users with greater mobility. To this extent, as the use of handheld devices becomes more pervasive, users are increasingly seeking to migrate/roam between “full” computer systems (e.g., desktops, laptops, etc.) and handheld devices. Unfortunately, today the handheld device “model” is somewhat hampered. For example, today a user will typically synchronize information onto a handheld device from a host desktop or laptop. Once synchronized, however, the information on the handheld device is presented with different program executables, and has smaller screens and keyboards. If the user decides to travel, he/she may ultimately have to bring or attempt to access a “full” computer system in order to comfortably switch back to full scale integration mode of an application against underlying data. For example, in the case of MICROSOFT OUTLOOK, although a user might be able to author an electronic mail message on his/her handheld device, the user will likely have to access a “full” computer system to perform any other more advanced functions. Thus, the handheld device does not really complete the roaming user need, since access to a “full” computer system may still be needed. Even if a “full” computer system is available, it might not be the user's own system. For the example, the “full” computer system accessed could be configured for a different user. As such, the user could still be required to travel with his/her own laptop to provide the needed functionality.
Other user-roaming models such as airport kiosks are hampered by the need to use web browsers to convey the application experience. This presents multiple problems, especially concern over whether the cache of the browser is completely cleared after each use. To this extent, unless the user can bring or access a full computer system such as a laptop, a complete desktop (e.g., a WIN32 desktop) is simply not available. Moreover, any involvement of a handheld device under this current state of the art only adds the complication of requiring the user to synchronize the handheld's data state with the full desktop application.
In view of the foregoing, there exists a need for a universal user roaming method, system and program product. Specifically, a need exists for a computer program to be developed that includes one set of program code executable on a first operating system (e.g., a WIN32-based operating system) and another set of program code executable on a second operating system (e.g., handheld device-based operating system). A further need exists for both sets of program code to read/write from a common datastore. Still yet, a need exists for the sets of program code and the common datastore to be stored on a removable storage medium such as a SD-RAM card with a USB adapter for easy interface with “full” computer systems and handheld devices without requiring synchronization.